29 November 2013

C 2012/S1 ISON Comet suicide

Comet
ISON, imaged by longtime amateur astrophotograperDamian Peach in the
U.K. He used a 17-inch telescopefor 12 minutes of combined exposures on
November 15th. Credit: Damian Peach/SkyandTelescope.com

Comet ISON hype started a few months back and was getting momentum. As C/2012 S1 came to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 28 November 2013 at a distance of 0.0124 AU (1,860,000 km; 1,150,000 mi) from the center point of the Sun. Its trajectory was to close to the Sun and burned out.

Here at the club we anticipated its position in the sky, wanted to take telescopic photos of it, wide shot with its fabulous tail in the Sunset-Sunrise sky. Also Animations of the comet was in our plans. But guess what...
We are mourning. Lots of planning with no result. The only thing I can see a positive side to it, we saw a chunk of rock falling into the Sun, there sure is some science in that right?

Even if we didn't have no photographic results, the planning in its self was a great challenge and a valuable practice for our future observations.

So what have we learn here?
Preparation is never for nothing. We still learned a lot from a comet and now have a better grasp of other incoming comets in the near future. Personally it was great to follow this celestial body. Because of comet ISON i know now more about our solar system mechanics and for this reason I will never forget this name: Comet ISON.

Never forget this name:
The comet's formal designation
is C/2012 S1. The "C" indicates that it is non-periodic, followed by
the year of discovery. The "S" represents the half-month of discovery—in
the case of C/2012 S1, the second half of September—and the number "1"
shows that this was the first comet found in that half month. The comet is named "ISON" after the organization where its discovery was made, the Russia-based International Scientific Optical Network.
The initial report of the object to the Central Bureau for Astronomical
Telegrams identified the object as an asteroid, and it was listed on
the Near Earth Objects Confirmation Page. Follow-up observations by
independent teams were the first to report cometary features. Therefore,
under the International Astronomical Union's comet-naming guidelines,
the comet is named after the team that discovered it, rather than the
individual discoverers.

My name is Stefan Lamoureux, I am the president of the Astronomy Club Toutatis, Kustavi, Finland. We organize all kinds of activities concerning astronomy and night observation at our Observatory in Kustavi, Finland. Also we travel around the world to visit the astronomy scene and write about it. Welcome to our blog and enjoy the astronomy behind it!